Society & Politics
-
Shinjuku
Shinjuku station is the human equivalent of an anthill. Every day millions pour through its labyrinth of malls, concourses and platforms in continuous, faceless streams. Incomprehensible at the macro level, on the ground everything appears to operate seamlessly; trains arrive… Continue reading
-
Politics of Language. Languages of Politics.
At the start of last week’s Premier League fixture between Manchester City and Burnley, as both sets of players finished taking the knee in support of Black Lives Matter, a plane flew over the Etihad Stadium pulling a banner that… Continue reading
-
Run The Jewels – RTJ4 (Review)
There is a cliché in the music industry that states you have your whole life to prepare for the first album, and only a year to prepare for the second. Longevity is a hard game, and many artists who happen… Continue reading
-
Division and Reconciliation in Darren McGarvey’s Poverty Safari
Back in the early 1980s, my Dad, still a schoolboy, was taken on a school trip to Glasgow. The trip was part of his Higher Modern Studies programme, an opportunity to see first-hand the redevelopment projects taking place in the… Continue reading
-
Flowers For Algernon: When Knowing Is Not Enough
A few months back, when such luxuries were still possible, a friend and I spent a weekday evening drinking at a pub near Queen’s Park. With the closing bell having already rung, and wishing to postpone the cold walk home… Continue reading
-
Covid-19 Is Laying Bare the Fantasy of Individualism
For much of the past forty years we have lived in a society that has doubted its own existence. Thatcher made it clear: There is no society, only a collection of atomized individuals seeking prosperity for themselves and their families.… Continue reading
-
Encounters: William Basinski’s The Disintegration Loops
It was mid-summer, and the evening sky was a deep cerulean blue despite the late hour. From the living room of my old Glasgow flat, I looked down on the Maryhill Road as it ran towards St George’s Cross subway… Continue reading
